Got freedom? If you gotta think about it, probably not. And you'd better
get used to it too. At least as far as the government of Canada is concerned
you'd better.

What? Don't believe me? Let's think about it for a moment, shall we?

Take Human Resources Development Canada as an excellent example:

How can a government agency that cannot account for over $1 billion in
lost funds manage a data base with over 2 000 pieces of information on
every Canadian in the country? Lets see... that's 30 000 000 people times
2 000 bits of info... according to my calculator (math was never my strongest
subject) that's a grand total of about 60 000 000 000 pieces of information.

So. The Government of Canada wishes us to believe that it can maintain
extensive files containing 60 billion pieces of information on its citizens
but that it can't keep track of a measly $1 billion?

I smell something here and it ain't roses.

If you can manage to keep track of that much detailed and insignificant
information you are certainly capable of tracking the path of a billion
bucks. After all, what's more important: data that tells us what size
of shoe Preston Manning wears or that which makes the world go round -
the almighty loonie? To claim one cares more about shoe sizes than that
which extends and improves our life is complete and utter nonsense. It
also means, in my opinion, that a) someone has their fingers in the cookie
jar or b) our governments priorities are screwed up beyond all belief.

As for the issue of the data base: there are those in the nation who
are arguing that without this information the government couldn't provide
us with the 'valuable' goods and services that it does. To these sheep
my question is this: "How does your precious EI benefit relate to
the grades you got in university or the type of toilet paper you wipe
with?"

Fact: It doesn't.

To which these same folks often respond: "What's wrong... have you
got something to hide? Huh, huh do ya???"

Fact: Its none of your damn business.

I don't know 2 000 different things about myself and I guarantee you
this: Anyone who knows that much about you holds a great deal of power
over your life; power which they have not earned nor proven they can use
responsibly. Canadians have this vision of government as a warm, nurturing,
overweight woman suckling them at her breast. In reality government is
neither a woman nor nurturing. Government is people. That's right folks
-- government is other individuals who have the potential to be either
malevolent or benevolent while simultaneously holding various degrees
of physical power over others. To quote Ayn Rand, "government is
force."

The problem with this fact (that civil servants are all individuals)
is that we cannot just arbitrarily decide which category each of these
individuals fits into: decent person or conniving thief. And since we
have no right to put them all to lie detector tests and personality exams
(thank God for that) none of them have the right to be privy to any information
on your life that you did not knowingly and openly give. You wouldn't
give your neighbor that kind of detailed information (he might think you
a bit odd if you did) why would you let some pencil pusher in 'cubicle
24d' have it?

The way I see it there are only two people who deserve to know that much
about my personal life: One of them is almighty God and the other is my
wife - and not necessarily in that order.

Which brings me back to the problem of the lost funds. One billion dollars
is a lot of money. Moreover, it's a lot of taxpayer's money. Money that
was taken from people without their consent and used to fund goofy "make
work" programs that most of us wouldn't normally volunteer one red
cent towards if asked (instead of forced). To give you an idea of exactly
how much money this is let's try a little more math shall we?

First, let's give the government the benefit of the doubt (and go easy
on them) and assume that the average Canuck makes somewhere in the neighborhood
of fifty thousand bucks a year (that's way too high but bear with me).
That means that the Canadian government stole, then lost a years worth
of wages from 20 000 Canadian workers, businessmen etc.

It seems to me that a civil suit filed on behalf of these 20 000 hard
working men and women might be in order. But wait. How does one decide
which twenty thousand Canadians should benefit from this law suit? I dunno.
How about instead of suing on behalf of twenty thousand Canucks we sue
on behalf of all the people of Canada? If successful that amounts to about
$33.33 per individual in this country. Actually, it would be more if you
really think about it. Those who don't earn an income would not be eligible
to sue. That includes people such as babies, university students, invalids,
most children under the age of 16, welfare recipients and so forth. This
would bring our total close to a hundred bucks per citizen (give or take
a few bills). You wouldn't tolerate someone breaking into your wallet
and taking that money so why do we put up with it when it's the government
doing it? They're people just like the rest of us aren't they? Don't they
deserve to be held responsible for this sort of theft as much as thug
on the corner does?

Unfortunately, in reality, this lawsuit only creates another problem:
Since governments don't actually make money they would have to expropriate
the funds needed to pay the taxpayer's successful lawsuit from the taxpayers.

In which case we should all just pay ourselves $100.00 and cut out the
middle man.

You see, not only is the government (other individuals with power) able
to invade your private life at a whim but it also has in place the mechanism
to steal your hard earned dollars from you without consequence for its
actions. Therein lies the big problem with funding government to do things
we should be doing for ourselves. When these ministries invade our privacy
and commit fraud or theft there is no recourse to charge them much less
sue -- unless of course you want to sue yourself.